Exploit your table image

Sometimes you can have a session at the table where you can do nothing wrong. You're catching cards at the right time and always seem to end up with the nuts. Of course, nobody can continually catch the nuts hand after hand. However, after catching a good run of cards, your opponents will not be as inclined to play a pot with you. A good player will capitalize on this and exploit their table image. This is why many people say that you lose more money when playing longer than you should after losing and you don't win enough money when quitting early when you're winning. While the latter part of that statement might not make sense, you are giving up on a well established image if you quit early after winning. If you keep playing, you have the potential to win even more. Of course, if you already prescribe to a method of a time limit at the table or some other factor, then you should quit when you planned to.

I was able to take advantage of my table image in my usual $1/$2 no limit hold 'em game in late 2005. In the first orbit of play, I busted a player with set over set. A few hands later I play a big pot after my 9s-7s made a flush on the turn and put a good dent in another player's stack. I know I play better when I'm "free rolling" on won money at the table. In other words, I become a much more dangerous player when I have accumulated a lot of chips. I played pretty solid for the next couple of hours, building up my initial buy in of $200 to almost $700. I really hadn't made any bluffs as I was catching a lot of cards. I had A-Q crack an opponent's slow played A-A when I it a flop of Q-Q-x and my opponent moved all in on the flop. Needless to say, I was the one player at the table that nobody wanted to mess with. If I wasn't out playing my opponents, I was out flopping them.

Of course, other than getting lucky, you have to get your opponents to lay down the best hand every now and then to be a winner. This was where my table image really came into play. I picked up A-10 in late position after some limpers, so I raised the pot to $12. I was surprised to get 4 callers, but that is somewhat typical for the no limit game I play in. The flop came 10-8-5 rainbow. I liked the flop--I had top pair with top kicker. The action that followed was quite interesting. The first player to act led out for another $12--less than one fourth of the pot. I read this bet as weak and put him on some kind of straight draw or a pair of 8s. Hands like 9-7 and J-8 and J-9 came to mind. One player folded and then another player raised to $35. This was the same player that I made a flush on earlier. I knew that this player had seen all of my good fortune that night. This player was also a good enough player to lay down medium strength hands. I also figured that he was tilting a bit after losing over $400 by my estimate. I reraised to $100. The initial better quickly folded and my victim was clearly frustrated. He flashed the 8c-5c and threw his hand into the muck. My hand quickly followed and I took down a nice pot. I don't know what my other opponents held, but I'm sure that this player got priced into the pot with a suited connector. I don't mind his call that much as there were several donkeys at the table. However, I knew my image and reputation from prior hands made him fold (reraising to $100 doesn't hurt either). I was asked if I held a set of 10s. I lied and said that I had flopped a set of 10s again (that was my set from earlier in the session). I guess the moral from this story is to not be afraid to exploit your table image and put your opponents to the test when you have a big stack.